Tears or Water
by openattheclose
Summary: Liquid beats of time, floating in a world of light, gliding and dissolving. They dissolve against the cheeks of an elf, lying there, breathing slowly. Caught between two worlds as the liquid runs down her face. Are they tears or water?
1. Tears or Water

**This is an old fanfic I did, but I lost it when my computer was wiped. I hate hard drives. Anyhow, the plot line changed a lot since it was basically this weird A/H fanfic before.**

**It's written very weirdly, a similar style to mine in my other fanfic, Kanika Mesi (Not AF), or at least the Prologue of that anyhow.**

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TEARS

_or_

WATER

_Breathless, beautiful._

_Liquid beats of time, floating in a world of light, gliding and dissolving._

_They dissolve against the cheeks of an elf, lying there, breathing slowly. Caught between two worlds as the liquid runs down her face._

_Are they tears or water?_

_There is nothing for a moment, no sound, as the elf struggles to breathe._

_Gasping, lifting herself up, she stares hazily around he world of light and at the same time, a world of blackness._

_The liquid is still making a path down her cheek._

_She is still hurt._

_A voice from somewhere tells her to wake up. Another voice is yelling that something is wrong._

_The elf hears them but she can't respond. She closes her eyes and lies down again._

_She tries to say __'Help' but no sound comes. There's a shining light in the distance, but she's too weak to move towards it. She closes her eyes, now sure the liquid still dripping down her face is tears._

_Now sure something is going to happen._

_Now…_

_If only she could force herself to speak._

_If only…_

* * *

Mulch Diggums grabbed the shoulder of the elf lying on the floor and shook them. 'Holly! Wake up!' he yelled, but only silence greeted his words. Cold silence. 

'Something's wrong,' Artemis Fowl, standing beside Mulch in the beige coloured room, said.

'OH REALLY?' Mulch asked him angrily, 'I DIDN'T NOTICE!'

Artemis didn't reply. He barely heard Mulch as he stared at Holly Short's lifeless form.

'Well don't just stand there! Call an ambulance!' Mulch yelled at him. Artemis nodded and ran into Holly's bedroom. Lying on her wooden dressing table was a communicator. He picked it up frantically, closing his eyes.

'_Of course. Of course. Nine zero nine. The police emergency number. It's on the corner of every billboard under the world.'_

Artemis shuddered as he remembered Holly's words and the dangerous situation they'd been in when she said them—trying to escape form an enclosure of trolls. At the time he didn't think they'd live. So what if she didn't now…?

Ignoring the thought, he punched in the number.

Back in the living room, Holly's breathing was increasing with speed. She gave a gasp and opened her eyes.

But before she could say anything, she closed them again.

* * *

_She can hear shouting._

_She can sense the fear of someone by her—close to her. In the brief seconds she manages to open her eyes she sees Mulch standing by her, hears someone's voice shouting into a communicator, and loses her grip on vision._

_'Help…' she whispers, finding her voice._

_'It's okay, Holly.' The words drift to her like a dream, a nightmare. She breaths deeply, reassured by the golden light glowing somewhere in the distance and the warm liquid sliding down her face._

_'Nine…zero…nine…call…them…'_

_'Artemis is doing that right now. Just relax.'_

_Unsatisfied by the thought, still worried, she shakes her head, her movements slow._

_'Artemis…?' she whispers, not understanding that he is there._

_'He's in your room—wait, here he comes. The ambulance is coming, Holly. Just go to sleep.'_

_She loses her speech. Her vision flashes again for a moment, focusing on icy blue eyes. Filled with worry._

_Her strength fades and she knows no more._

_

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_

**It looked a lot longer in MS word... .:blinks:.**

** Next chapter will be much longer.**

** Reveiws welcome. :) **

**-Tigeress-10 **_  
_


	2. Heartbeat

**Not much to say for this one. Except, Holly is apologizing for the fight, if that doesn't make any sense. **

**And the fight seems kinda unrealistic…sorry bout that…**

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HEARTBEAT

_She's struggling. Her grasp on reality is a weak one, one that can be torn apart so easily._

_It reminds her of so many things._

_Life…life can be torn apart. Hearts._

_But by what?_

_Death, loss, love…_

_Love is something she doesn't want to think about right now._

_She doesn't want to think at all._

_She opens her eyes and gazes around the dream world of liquid beats of time. She counts the seconds in her head._

_Suddenly she feels herself being lowered down, feels someone standing next to her, hears a door slam._

_One._

_Two._

_He was there—_

_Three._

_Four._

_

* * *

_

Artemis stood by Holly's bed in the hospital for a moment. He turned and began to walk out, opening the door.

'Wait…'

Artemis closed the door, turned, and slowly made his way back to Holly. 'You're awake?' he asked her quietly

Holly nodded. She was pale and her breathing was slowed, her eyes barely open, but she was awake.

'Sorry.' Holly muttered.

'For what?'

'What I said.'

Artemis paused slightly.

'And,' he began, 'that was…?'

'You remember,' Holly said harshly.

There was a silence. Artemis finally nodded, just once, slowly, and left the room.

Holly blinked at the white ceiling. Everything in the room seemed to be a dazzling blue or grey or white.

She sighed, leaning over and closing her eyes, suddenly freezing cold.

She wondered silently what had frozen her.

* * *

Artemis sat down in the waiting room beside Mulch.

'Is she awake?' Mulch asked him.

Artemis paused for a moment.

'No.'

* * *

Flashback

_Holly sat at her desk, frowning as she filled out the form. 'Thank you very much for coming to Mulch and Holly's private investigating service, we hope you are satisfied. Please actually check for your "stolen" violin under your bed before coming to us…' Holly crossed that part out and continued writing._

'_Thank you notes?' Artemis, sitting in a chair, enquired. _

'_Forms. And they are the absolute joy of my day,' Holly replied somewhat bitterly, laughing. _

'_I never got one of those for my work with the paintings,' Artemis said teasingly._

_Holly's smile disappeared. She continued writing, digging the pencil onto the paper, writing hurriedly and forcefully._

'_You think you should be thanked?' she asked in an almost inaudible tone._

'_No,' Artemis said, concerned. 'I wasn't serious.'_

_Holly didn't seem to hear him. 'For all the trouble you've caused the People…you think you can just put that behind you and get thanked for a couple of stupid paintings?' Holly continued, her voice rising now._

_Artemis was still too stunned to speak. The pencil cracked loudly as it broke into two pieces._

'_All the pain? You think that doesn't matter? The stupid mind wipe, and all the sleepless nights afterwards…you think none of that matters, let's just thank you?'_

_Artemis froze._

'_I never…' he trailed off._

'_Leave,' Holly said suddenly, realizing what she'd said. 'Please. Go see Mulch or something.'_

_Artemis walked out the door silently._

_Holly closed her eyes. The broken pencil pieces lay on the desk. Broken like her heart.  
_

End flashback

* * *

_She wakes._

_Wake is a loose word. Her vision is still gone; her knowledge of the world outside a tainted dream is nonexistent, but she senses the place around her._

_Poison…_

_The world is but a piece of paper, dabbed with watercolours of shades that are everything and nothing. Alive and dead._

_Water, the liquid staining her face and her reality, spills across the paper, and instantly the watercolours flow. Dripping through the tainted dream world._

'_She's going to need an operation…'_

'_What do you think is wrong with her?'_

'_I don't know, it's like she's in some sort of coma, she—oh my god.'_

'_What?'_

'_Look. Look at this. Her heartbeat…'_

'_She can't be alive.'_

'_She is, alright.'_

_In the brief moments the elf can hear the exchanged words, tossed around to embrace her silence, she feels fear._

_Some part of her thinks she is dying._

'_Help...' she whispers again. She's lifted up out of her poison and into the real world._

_She's thrown back just as she hears shouts and yells, fading along with her strength and consciousness._

_

* * *

_

A sprite, one of the doctors, hurriedly entered the waiting room. Mulch stood up.

'What's wrong with her?' he asked anxiously.

The sprite shook his had. 'No idea,' he said quietly. 'Her pulse rate's down to twenty beats a minute.'

Mulch's mouth dropped. Artemis was too numb to move.

'And yet,' the doctor continued, 'she's alive.'

'And yet,' Mulch repeated, sitting down. 'And yet.' He seemed incapable of doing anything else.

Artemis stared blindly into space.

* * *

**Yay…another story that writes itself…**

**Reviews welcome.**

**-Tigeress-10**


	3. Emerald

**Sorry it's been awhile, I had a project I needed to finish and I temporarily lost interest. But now I've figured out for sure what Holly's condition is, I'm back.**

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Emerald

Artemis and Mulch stepped into a brightly lit room a few minutes later. The sprite that had told them in the waiting room about Holly's condition motioned for them to come over to a deceive.

Holly was lying on a bed in the center of the room, her breathing slow, sweat sliding down her face.

'I wouldn't worry about it,' the doctor said, seeing Artemis' numb stare at Holly's form. 'Fever dreams are unsettling things.'

Artemis nodded, jerking his gaze from Holly to the doctor. Mulch glanced at him uneasily; he couldn't be taking Holly's sickness well.

'Now, we can't explain what's happened to Ms. Short,' the doctor began, 'But whatever state she's in, she's affecting the machine's readings. This,' he pointed to the metal device he'd led Artemis and Mulch to, 'clearly says her heartbeat is 20 beats per minute. But,' at this point the sprite bent down by Holly and grasped her wrist, 'the staff here can easily tell from checking her pulse rate manually it's a higher, pretty much normal pulse rate for sleeping.'

Artemis let out a slight breath of relief, and Mulch nodded.

'She seems to be undergoing a lot of stress, or she wouldn't be sweating so much and have such a pained expression on her face,' the doctor continued. He turned to face Artemis and Mulch. 'When was the last time you saw her before…she became ill?'

Artemis winced at the memory of the fight.

Mulch turned to Artemis. 'You saw her before me.'

Artemis nodded, grimacing slightly. 'We had a…disagreement,' he said quietly.

'Ah. One that would make her stressed?' the sprite enquired, while Mulch gaped at Artemis slightly.

Artemis nodded quickly. Mulch shut his mouth with hesitance.

'I went to see Mulch,' Artemis continued, 'as I was meeting him that day. I avoided telling him about the argument with Holly, so I couldn't prevent him from wanting for us to go back to her house. When we arrived, she was lying on the floor unconscious, appearing to be crying, but not responding to either of us.'

Mulch avoided looking at Holly, whose eyes had slowly drifted open.

The doctor, however, noticed.

'Ms. Short,' he said, kneeling down to face her, 'how are you feeling?'

'Sick,' Holly mumbled, closing her eyes and turning away, as though she was a small child who didn't want to wake up in the morning.

'Do you have any idea what you are sick with?' the sprite asked calmly. Holly groaned in pain and frustration.

'You're the doctor,' she replied grudgingly.

'Ms. Short, anything you can tell us about your condition before you fell unconscious would be very helpful.'

'Yeah, well, anything you can do to help_ me_ would be very helpful. Give me some medicine or something.' Holly grabbed her stomach and squeezed her eyes so tightly that tears began to leak out of them.

The doctor shook his head and turned to Mulch and Artemis. 'We'll continue running tests. We'll give her an injection and analyse the blood—that might take a while, though.'

Mulch nodded, and Artemis gripped the frame of the bed so tightly his knuckles turned white.

The tears still leaked down Holly's face and only the pillow she had pressed to her forehead muffled the sounds of soft sobs.

* * *

_She gets up from her place curled on the floor. She falls again as sharp stabs of pain hit her._

'_D…arvit…' she mumbles, holding her stomach and pressing her head into her knees. _

'_HELP,' she screams to the empty air, tears rolling down her face, soaking her shirt as they drip further down still. 'Help…' she repeats, weaker. 'Somebody help me…'_

_The light in front of her, closer to her now, glows and glows, illuminating her crumpled, shaking figure. _

_She can vaguely her a voice shouting, she can hear another voice shouting with it. It's her own voice. Memories flood in her direction but she ignores them, concentrating on the pains in her stomach and not the pains in her heart._

_Suddenly the pains ease and she opens her eyes, gazing slowly around her. The light has faded and now all she can see is a cascading watercolour paradise of liquid beats of time._

_Her eyes focus, and she noticed the brilliant green colour around her. Emerald._

_Emerald._

_The word hits her, shocking her, forcing her mind to remember. Something fits, and suddenly everything she's feeling makes sense, her sickness makes sense._

_She tried to scream out the words but then she remembers no one can hear her. The pains return again._

_She clutched her stomach and cries, not with pain, but with fear, fear she'll forget, fear she'll die…_

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_

Artemis and Mulch were told it was best for them to leave, since visiting hours were over and Holly obviously wasn't in the mood to see anyone. They took the hint and were making their way to see Foaly in a café, anxiously waiting for news about Holly.

Artemis looked at some water spilling from the gutter. Such a beautiful colour. Just like those shades in one of the paintings he'd helped Mulch and Holly restore. Just like…

Artemis froze.

'What is it?' Mulch asked him anxiously.

'We need to go back,' Artemis said quickly, turning and beginning to run.

'But what about Foaly—'

'WE NEED TO GO BACK!'

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**Heh.**

**Reviews still welcome**

**-Tigeress-10**


	4. Unwanted Confirmations

**Since this is an A/H story and there isn't much A/H, besides implied, I put a little moment in this. Little as in miniscule, as in you don't really see Holly's reaction until the dream sequence of the next chapter.**

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Unwanted Confirmations

_It's so easy to let go, she thinks. Tells herself._

_It's so easy to use slip away…_

'_When are you going to realize what's wrong?' she voices aloud._

_When are you going to wake me up?_

_

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_

Artemis threw open the doors of the library and sprinted to the computer area, not pausing to think.

'What the hell is going on,' hissed Mulch, catching up.

'Wait,' Artemis breathed, impatiently waiting for the computer's internet browser to load. He glanced at Mulch expectantly. 'Well, sit down then.'

Mulch half-heartedly took a seat in the chair beside Artemis, craning to see the screen. 'Artemis, what the hell are you doing?'

'I said wait,' Artemis muttered vaguely, opening a search engine and quickly making a search. He found the results and read them sadly, regretting having to confirm it.

Mulch stared at the screen with growing horror.

'Artemis…you don't mean…'

Artemis didn't reply, staring blankly at the pages that he was quickly printing. He shut the window and waited for the rest of the information to print.

'Yes, Mulch, I do.'

The answer echoed around the silent library.

* * *

_She hears a door slamming and hears a yell._

'_ARSENIC.'_

_The silence then, the cold, understanding, accepting, silence._

'_What?'_

'_Arsenic poisoning. From a painting. A very old painting.' The sentences are short, thrust into the air._

_No one's there to catch the sentences. To understand._

'_Mr. Fowl, I highly doubt…'_

'_Paris Green. Otherwise known as Emerald Green. A painting figment once often sued in Impressionist paintings, valued for its incredible colour. But very, very toxic.'_

'_Once again, I really…'_

'_LISTEN.'_

_The silence._

'_That's what it is. I'm sure of it.'_

'_But Mr. Fowl, how could Ms. Short come into contact with such a painting…or be around it long enough for the poison to affect her?'_

'_Holly and Mulch are private investigators. I help them sometimes, due to my connections in the art world, to retrieve painting and give them back to museums above ground. One of the paintings we encountered needed a frame fixed. Holly did the work, which took ages, about a month, because it was a valuable painting and needed to be preserved as such._

_When Holly began to take slightly sick—which I didn't mention to you before because I assumed it was nothing, a common cold—I did some research on the painting. I found out Emerald Green was used as a figment, but didn't think much of it. Now, some colours I saw reminded me of the painting and I remembered reading about Emerald Green before…all I remembered was that it may have been toxic. I then, just now, went to the library and looked it up on the computers…and I'm afraid my worst fears were confirmed. See for yourself.'_

_A rustle of papers. _

'…_Are you sure…?'_

'_Yes, for the last time, I am sure.' Artemis' brief, impatient voice would've made Holly smirk at imaging in the doctor's reaction, but it hurt too much to smile, to move at all seemed to only aggravate the pain._

_She let out a cry as new pain hit her, and she found it difficult to breath._

_The liquid slid down her face, tears of pain._

'_SOMEONE,' she screamed, finding strength, strength only to let it out, to scream._

'_SOMEONE HELP.'_

_

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_

Holly's agonized yells broke through her silence, and Artemis, Mulch, and the sprite turned worriedly to face her.

Holly's eyes fluttered open for a moment, but she didn't seem to take in anything around her. Her gaze drifted to the printed out pages lying on the bedside table, and suddenly she smiled, closing her eyes again.

'In this case we need blood transfusions if the arsenic is a serve case,' the doctor began, 'but other than that there isn't much we can do…'

Holly's eyes opened again, and Artemis and Mulch made their way to her bedside.

'You okay?' Mulch asked quietly. Holly nodded briefly.

'It's kinda hard to breathe,' she managed to say, 'and I keep getting really awful pains.'

'Listen, Holly,' Artemis cut in, 'you know the painting?'

'I heard,' Holly mumbled.

'They'll be able to do blood transfusions…and you don't seem to be critical…'

'That's good, huh?' Holly said with a small half-smile.

'Yep. You'll be okay,' Mulch told her.

Holly smiled again, closing her eyes.

Impulsively, Artemis leaned down and quickly kissed her forehead, before getting up and walking out of the room, ignoring Mulch's stare.

* * *

**Meh. Not too sure about that there.**

**Reviews still welcome**

**-Tigeress10**


	5. Prick

**One more chapter, the epilogue.**

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**Prick**

_The tension still gripped her, and she wondered vaguely if it would ever let her go._

_No use wondering, was there?_

_She weakly reached for her forehead, touching it gently, trying not to breathe._

_She closed her eyes and decided she'd been—and still was—imagining things. _

_But maybe…_

_

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_

'Artemis! Arty, wait up!'

Artemis turned around swiftly, his eyes sparking with brief annoyance at being called 'Arty'. 'Yes, Mulch?'

'What—what was that?'

'What was _what_,' Artemis asked Mulch, his tone warning.

'The—back in the—' Mulch gestured wildly towards Holly's room from their place in the corridor, and Artemis raised an eyebrow. 'Yes?'

Defeated, Mulch's arms came down to rest by his sides. 'Nothing,' he muttered, deciding not to press the matter of what had happened in Holly's room.

'Good.'

* * *

_She let out a small shocked cry as she felt something prick her skin._

'_Sssh,' someone said. 'It's okay.'_

_She turned, vainly trying to see who'd spoken._

'_Oh Gods…' she murmured, gripping the offending area of her arm, now marked with a tiny white blot that faded almost instantly._

_She realized she'd had an injection, and vaguely he mind wandered to the blood transfusions again, the spoken words, tossed into the cold, silent air._

_

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_

A nurse bent by Holly, pulling the needle out of her and handing it to the doctor. He thanked her quickly.

The nurse returned her attention back to Holly's now lifelessly still form.

* * *

Two hours later, the sprite entered the waiting room. Both Mulch Artemis looked up warily.

'You can come in, she's awake, the doctor informed them.

* * *

Holly smiled as Mulch and Artemis entered. The two of them sat down beside her quickly.

'How do you feel?' Mulch was the first to ask.

'Fine. Just tired. They say I can go home in a few days.'

'That's good,' Artemis said.

'Miracles can happen, I guess,' Holly replied, laughing slightly.

Mulch frowned. 'Uh, I thought you weren't critical, so how is you getting better a mira…'

he trailed off and glanced at Artemis. Then Holly. Then Artemis. Then the floor.

'Yes,' Artemis agreed, ignoring Mulch. 'They can.'

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**That was…weird. **

**And this is a very very short chapter, sorry bout that. **

**I personally hate this chapter, so sorry if my opinions are agreed with.**

**Reviews still welcome, and they shall always be welcome**

**-Tigeress-10**


	6. Epilogue

**Lalalalalalala what a wonderful morning, or afternoon, but anyway I am soooo happy.**

**I HAVE THE NEW ARTEMIS FOWL BOOK, and it it's great. And when I got it, and read the last few pages, I literally went insane. I did this weird demented ballerina dance in the middle of the bookstore. It was….quite scary actually.**

**Moving on.**

**Throughout this story, if anyone's noticed, I've put in two or three references to my other chapter fanfic, 'Holly's Date', ie the café Mulch and Artemis were going to meet Foaly in. **

**Well…having said that, it doesn't take a genius to figure out were this is placed. **

**Right? **

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**Epilogue **

Holly smiled and leaned back in the booth of the café. She was sitting next to Artemis, and they were both sitting across from Foaly and Mulch.

She'd been released out of the hospital that day, and Mulch proposed they go see Foaly that night after all, to make up for not being able to at first.

'So, how're you feeling?' Foaly asked Holly for what seemed like the millionth time that night.

'How many times have you asked me that?' Holly said exasperatedly.

'This is the 27th time. I've been counting,' Artemis commented dryly.

Mulch chuckled, and Foaly glared at him.

'So…how're you feeling?'

'FOALY!' Holly shouted.

'Sorry, sorry! Just asking!'

'28th,' Artemis muttered.

* * *

As the sky—or rather, the glow strips—darkened to a state of evening, Holly left the café with Artemis. Foaly offered to come to, but after having Mulch stamp on his hoof, he relented, with a suspicious glance.

Holly glanced briefly at the café doors. 'Nice place,' she said vaguely. Artemis nodded.

'Thanks,' Holly said suddenly.

'For what?'

'Just… you and Mulch staying at the hospital, I guess.'

' You think we wouldn't have?'

Holly shook her head. 'I just meant…' she gave up.

'It's alright,' Artemis said, laughing. 'I understand, I think.'

'Stupid painting.'

Artemis nodded. 'Well you're safe now, aren't you?'

'Hopefully.'

As they reached Holly's house, she turned around to face Artemis and smiled weakly. 'See you around?'

Artemis nodded before quickly, and once again impulsively, kissing Holly's cheek. He turned and headed back towards the streets, leaving Holly standing with an odd look on her face.

She opened her mouth to say something then shut it decisively.

* * *

_Well. Her own bed, her own house. Something she hadn't had for a while._

_She turned in her bed, touching her cheek, then her forehead, almost unconsciously. _

_She smiled suddenly, and let herself drift to sleep. A peaceful sleep, in her dream world. But she was no longer captured by her illness, her pains, but simply drifting away in a world of water…_

_

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_

**Aww. Sorry it wasn't any more A/H. I just cannot write, what's the word, deeper I suppose, romance. Forcing my fingers to type it makes me think it's too mushy.**

**So…don't except to not see anything more of me. .:laughs evilly as everyone screams, already tortured with her terrible writing skills:. I have another chapter fic planned, 'Rain'. It might be a sequel to this…**

**Oh, and about The Lost Colony.**

**When I wrote the author's note at the chapter beginning, I was happy with the book. I am still happy with the book. It brings up loads of new fanfic ideas. BUT.**

**.:MINOR SPOLIERS:.**

**WHY DOES ARTEMIS HAVE TO GO THROUGH PURBERTY AND SAY HE'S ATRRACTED TO LIKE EVERY PRETTY GIRL HE MEETS EXCEPT HOLLY! I mean, with stupid Minerva he's all 'oh I'm the only one that understood your sophisticated joke, what a goddess you must be'. Minerva is a 12-year-old genius who CONVINETLY happens to be named after the goddess of wisdom. Oh wow, chemistry there huh?**

**Basically, it couldn't be clearer than day that they're going to get together. I happen to really dislike Minerva's character, I just find her annoying. **

**But there's 'something for everyone' in terms of ship, really. Holly/Foaly shippers don't really have a chance, Holly/Trouble neutral, Holly/Artemis…well. I'm biased on this, but there are defiantly some sweet moments. However, I'm not in denial enough to refuse to admit they're 'friendship' moments. Holly/Butler have some implications to go on, Foaly/Other centaur is confirmed, and they're the sweetest couple, except for the quote: 'Caballine likes me to be masterful. She calls me her stallion,' which for some reason scares me.**


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